Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, NEWS, by JOSEPH BEAUMONT


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

NEWS, by                    
First Line: What haste, fond jock! Nay thou shalt longer stay
Last Line: But grant these old things are the greatest news.
Subject(s): News; Prayer


WHAT haste, fond Jock! Nay thou shalt longer stay,
Bycause thou thirstest thus to snatch
The first buzz of the News, & catch
Thou knowst not what: The Story may
Be sad, & punish greedy thee;
What harm then in deferring Miserie!

2

Stay but a while, & thou the News shalt see
Come, uninvited, to thy door,
And honester that 'twas before:
That Paint & lying Braverie
Which makes her young wilde face so gay,
Will by truth-cleering Time be washt away.

3

Fear not Delay; the News, though tardy, yet
Can be her self to Thee, one day,
Or twenty hence: That which doth slay
Her slight life, is not Absence, but
Presence alone: the News is new
When first she comes (though then she dyes) in view.

4

But hark, my Heart, the happiest News to thee
Will be to finde it truely in
Thy self: Is that old Man of Sin
Banishd & gone, & canst thou see
New holy youth bud in thy breast?
This is the only News can make thee blest.

5

If after other News thou lingerest still,
Look out, & see where thou canst spy
Devotion, Meeknes, Loyalty,
Peace, Justice, & sinceer good-will:
Judge truly, & thou canst not chuse
But grant these old things are the greatest News.





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